Quote:
Originally Posted by tupelo
A Brief and Irreverent History of Early Motoring and Speed Limits on NH Highways by tupelo
In the early days of motoring in NH, most cars were small, underpowered and unreliable. Speed limits existed nowhere on NH roads and highways. However by the early 1920's , bigger and better cars, like Duesenbergs, were finding their way onto these roads. Some were capable of doing 65 MPH right through downtown Laconia. They were fast and fun. Accidents occasionally happened but they were few and infrequent. {big snip} By now there was interest in the legislature for establishing speed limits. The house in fact passed this new bill, HB 7. {big snip} While the GFBL car crowd vowed to fight on, after 2 years when it was seen that the whole NH economy did indeed not collapse as had been warned, and people still found great enjoyment using their cars, the "no limits" crowd slowly faded away.
THE END
|
Nice tale tupelo. It is too bad those early people didn't think smartly enough to establish buffer zones and laws about reasonable speeds. Going slowly over a narrow bridge for instance. Like driving slowly within 15 feet of other cars, buildings and even people. Specially those people stupid enough to walk in the areas regularly traveled by cars going at speeds reasonable and prudent for the circumstances.
They didn't know as much back in those early days as they do today but some people just won't learn. Of course in those very early days 10 mph was considered TO FAST. and 25 mph was like the devil was driving. Some ignorant people refused to even go in such speedy contraptions let alone feel comfortable anywhere near a faster horseless carriage. Boy, we've grown a lot since then.